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System Feature
Input Stream Redirection
Purpose
Redirection of contents of input streams
Syntax
[h]< <file_name> | $<str_var_name> | { <inline_command> } | NULL
Arguments
<file_name>
Name of a file from which input is to be read. It
can be a name relative to the current directory,
or full path name.
<str_var_name>
Name of a string variable from which input is to be read.
The variable must be declared prior to its use. Also,
the variable must of type str.
<inline_command>
The output of the inline command specifies the redirection
target.
NULL
Input will be ignored.
Description
The input stream is replaced by contents of
the redirection target before processing the current
command.
If an h (lower case letter h) is specified immediately before the <
the incoming data is assumed to be in hexadecimal representation, and it will be converted
to binary bytes before being processed by the command.
Restrictions
Redirection is not allowed in the following commands.
function
return
end
set
if
else
endif
while
do
done
If redirection is specified on these commands,
it will be ignored.
If inline command is used for redirection, it must
result in one (and only one) file name or variable name.
Valid Examples
repro < myfile.cpp
Will reproduce the contents of myfile.cpp.
var str fileList
...
# compile a list of files into $fileList
...
repro < { echo $fileList }
Will reproduce the contents of file names
stored in str variable $fileList.
Invalid Examples
if ($x <> <myfile.cpp)
...
The above will produce an error or erroneous output because redirection
can not be used within if. If the intention is to compare the value of
variable $x with the contents of file myfile.cpp, use the following
instead.
if ($x <> { repro myfile.cpp } )
...
See Also
streaminlineoutputerror